


The Beginning of Forever

by ajremix



Category: Tales of Vesperia
Genre: Future Fic, M/M, Spirits
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-29
Updated: 2019-09-29
Packaged: 2020-11-07 14:23:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,618
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20818751
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ajremix/pseuds/ajremix
Summary: Future fic, it's the first day of the rest of Flynn's life.Fluri Week 2019: Sweet Sunday





	The Beginning of Forever

**Author's Note:**

> I gotta say, the fact that the game ends with all the world's blastia turning into spirits, I'm shocked and somewhat disappointed at the lack of post-game spirit world speculation. I kind of like a Shaman King-esque situation where spirits (weaker spirits) are tiny floating figures that can lend a person of their choosing their power or empower items. I also like the idea that the barrier blastia became city spirits that can act in their own interests but also protect their respective cities.
> 
> Eventually. After Estelle ran around for a year or two trying to talk the spirits into being cooperative.

Flynn wakes up with the sun, even though he doesn't have to anymore. For a moment he's disoriented, mind automatically shuffling through his schedule, making lists of all the things he has to do in order to prepare for his first meeting and stalling out when he remembers he doesn't have any today. Or for the foreseeable future. He lays in bed, even though his body is already becoming restless, and wonders how the hell he's going to survive the rest of his life.

Mornings in Aurnion are chilly most times of the year so, when it's time for the markets to open and Flynn finally leaves, he pulls on a coat. It's admittedly too fancy for something as simple as shopping, a parting gift from Ioder, but it's currently the only one he's unpacked. The house is on the outskirts of Aurnion- it's current outskirts, the original wall had long been taken down as the town grew -so it's a bit of a walk but it allows Flynn time to enjoy the sun and scent of dew-laden grass and the nearby forest.

The market itself is a little on the hectic side, mainly from all the people wanting to talk to him and give him gifts, welcoming him to the town he'd helped found. Then a couple knights joined the crowd, and the town's knight commander, then the mayor and even a couple guild representatives and Flynn will absolutely deny that he ended up making some awkward excuse and farewell before taking what groceries he'd managed to buy and running.

He hopes the novelty of his presence wears off quickly.

As he clears the last row of houses, Flynn spots Ba'ul in the open area behind his house- part of the reason for getting it, really -and quickens his pace. The Entelexeia hasn't changed a bit, though Flynn swears he gets a bigger each time Flynn sees him. As Flynn expects, Judith is there and he takes her hand in greeting. "Ba'ul, Judith. Always a pleasure."

"Same." She reaches forward with her other hand, brushing her fingertips along his jaw. "The beard suits you."

Flynn laughs- he's had that beard for over a decade now. "You always say that."

"And it's always true. Karol asked me to apologize for missing your retirement ceremony on his behalf."

"It's alright. You were all there for the important one." The one held a week earlier in the Lower Quarter which, despite spending nearly forty years living in and working out of the palace, still felt more like home to him. It had been a sprawling, raucous party that had lasted nearly to dawn, music and lights, dancing and laughter and so many people from all over eager to tell him how proud they were and wishing the best in his future.

In contrast, his official retirement ceremony was as expected for an upper class event: stuffy with decorum and full of nobles and dignitaries and politicians who pretended they'd always liked Flynn and would miss him dreadfully. Estelle and Rita were about the only people worth sticking through it for. Especially when Rita would 'accidentally' wheel over the feet of particularly annoying 'well wishers'.

If anyone asks, Flynn will freely admit he's glad he'll never have to go to one of those things again.

"Speaking of which, Yuri brought your gift inside already." All the people he'd known and grew up with in the Lower Quarter had decided to make him a quilt, each square a message from a person or family. It ended up being about the size of a wall tapestry and Flynn had asked Judith to bring it to Aurnion for him.

She turns back toward Ba'ul and Flynn asks, "Are you leaving already?"

Judith winks back over her shoulder. "I'd hate to get in the way of your reunion." That enigmatic smile and her taste in clothes are the only things that hasn't changed. Honestly, Flynn is somewhat jealous of that. He hadn't thought himself a vain man until he began to visibly slide out of his physical prime, pushing himself harder through his workouts and trying to ignore the aches and pains that lingered longer until Estelle and Ioder and, finally, Yuri banded together to knock sense back into him. But Judith didn't care about how the passage of time changed her looks, unashamed of showing off her wrinkles and stretch marks and rolls. Flynn supposed having her as a sort of role model helped him cope with his own physical imperfections. "Besides, we'll be back soon enough for your house warming party."

Flynn just huffs at her in reply, waving Judith and Ba'ul farewell. Then when he enters the house he's greeted by, "Well, well. If it isn't the former commandant," Flynn's breath catches. Sure, they'd seen each other a week ago but his breath always catches, his heart always skips a beat whenever he sees Yuri for the first time. It has since they were in their twenties. "Took you long enough."

Flynn can't help a fond smile even as he shoots back, "Not everyone's retirement process is as simple as telling Karol you'll be retiring in five months."

Yuri just shrugs. "You get the better pension, so trade off. By the way, Estelle know you stole one of her dogs?"

Flynn reflexively looks down at Thierry at Yuri's side, his tail wagging lightly as Flynn's attention. "Estelle gave him to me. She figured now I'd have time to train a dog." Thierry's young, hasn't yet grown out of his puppy stage entirely. He's also Repede's great-something grandson though, asides from his tail, there's no other resemblance. He's mostly black sable with pale tan patches on his chest and around his red eyes. Flynn isn't certain if Thierry is stockier than Repede was or if maybe Estelle spoils her pets overmuch.

"Just how I wanted to spend my retirement years," Yuri sighs, all for show, "babysitting even more things."

"I'm pretty sure it's usually the other way around. Isn't that right, Luna?"

Yuri's right hand from just below the elbow unravels into a dark mist before reforming into a long, flat spirit, not unlike a ribbon eel whose body is made out of midnight and stars, spine rimmed an iridescent yellow. Luna's full, glowing eyes curves into happy crescents as she swirls around Flynn in greeting.

Flynn lets the spirit weave between his fingers. "You've been keeping Yuri in line for me, haven't you?" She trills in response.

"I swear," Yuri says in mock indignation, "she likes you better than me."

From behind Yuri's thick braid of silver hair, another spirit pops out, hissing at Flynn in actual indignation. Flynn winces and chuckles. "I'm sorry I didn't wake you, Aska. I only went to the market."

Aska, a three legged bird-like creature with a ring for a body and a tiny sun floating inside, isn't placated, glaring at Flynn while allowing Yuri to scratch under its chin and coo about how mean and thoughtless Flynn is. Thierry grumbles at the lack of attention directed to himself and goes to thrust his head under Flynn's hand for skritches.

"How'd Zaphias take you leaving?" Yuri asks as he takes Flynn's groceries and heads toward the kitchen.

"Well enough, I think." Flynn goes to stand in the entry way, watching as Yuri begins to cook, their spirits finally switching back to their preferred people. Luna fashions herself back into Yuri's hand to help him cook. "It took a while for them to understand that I'd be leaving- really leaving -and that they'd need to work with the new commandant." Zaphias resides in the Sword Stair, right where their core used to sit. It had taken both Flynn and Estelle years of careful coaxing and handling before they agreed to lend their power, under direction of Flynn and Ioder, to protecting Zaphias instead of acting out on their own.

"You think they'll listen to Ilka?"

"I can only hope." Flynn has the utmost confidence in the new commandant, otherwise he wouldn't have retired. "I've seen her work with the spirits protecting Halure and the ports. I'm certain she can handle Zaphias. But," he says because he knows that look Yuri is side-eying him with, "that's not anything I need to worry about any more. So what was so dire it needed Brave Vesperia's founding members to get back into action?"

Yuri waves a hand and says something vague about council troubles- Dahngrest has been trying to implement an actual system of government to avoid another succession issue -which he obviously doesn't care about on top of being retired and goes into far more detail about how apparently Karol and Harry's granddaughters nearly eloped and that Karol was needed to mediate his family on the issue.

"It's not that anyone doesn't want them getting hitched," Yuri explains as they finish up their breakfast, "it's just the girls don't want a big affair but Harry's the former Don and Karol's the founder of one of the biggest guilds so people keep butting in."

Flynn hums, draining the last of his tea. "I believe I'm still a legally recognized officiant. Just to throw that out there." Given one of the women involved is the daughter of Yuri's -and, by extension, Flynn's -godson, he feels obligated to help where he can.

Yuri laughs, "If it gets that bad, I'm sure Karol'll be happy to ship 'em our way." He gets up to let Aska and Luna out of the house, Thierry playfully chasing and nipping after them.

As they clean up, Flynn talks about the weekend he spent in Halure with Estelle and Rita and their family- the Ristelle Mob, as Yuri dubbed them -as well as the trip from Zaphias, being picked up by Patty despite her technically still being a wanted criminal. She gave Flynn her obligatory threat of kidnapping Yuri for her harem in the same breath she promised to come for the house warming party. Yuri just laughs. And when Flynn mentions swinging by Zaude to pay his respects to Raven, Yuri looks both sad and fond. It had been by Raven's request- when he refused to let Rita find an alternative to his failing heart -that he be buried in such a remote place where few, even now, were allowed to go. A place, he said, where he'd no longer be bothered, his simple grave kept company by two equally simple markers, one for Yeager and the other marked Casey. There had been flowers put there recently, Flynn notes, likely by Gauche and Droite who had all but disappeared after the Adephagos.

On paper Flynn had, due to their involvement with Leviathan's Claw, put a warrant out for their arrest but put minimal resources into actually finding them. After a few years with barely even rumors of their presence, Flynn had quietly shuffled those warrants to where all others would eventually forget about them. He wonders, every now and again, if they ever a found a way to be happy.

A finger roughly pokes him in the forehead. "Ow!" Flynn says out of reflex rather than pain. "What was that for?"

"Because you're gonna scratch up my pan if you keep wiping it like that," Yuri says. "And also I know when you're thinking about work. Or what _used_ to be your work," he added with a very pointed stress on the word.

"Sorry," Flynn replies because it's not worth lying about it, putting away the now thoroughly dried pan. He takes a moment to watch Yuri wipe the sink and then his hand dry and stretch his arms up and back until his spine curves and joints pop. "So?" Flynn asks. "Now what?"

"How was your walk into town?"

Flynn sighs.

Yuri grins right back. "Yeah, that's what I thought. Think we'd be better off taking a nap right now."

Flynn looks at him as if he'd just said something completely alien. "Nap?"

"Yup. I got up too damn early to get here and I'll bet you woke up too damn early yourself. And you gotta learn to take it easy so," Yuri grabs Flynn's shoulder and spins him around until he's facing toward the bedroom, "nap."

"But... Thierry-"

"Can use the dog door to get back in. And if he hasn't figured out how to to use it, Luna and Aska can show 'im."

Despite his protests, Flynn makes it to the bedroom with only a bit of prodding though he feels somewhat foolish changing back into his sleeping clothes at Yuri's insistence. He's much more amendable to the idea when it becomes apparent that Yuri is joining him.

As they get into bed, arranging themselves around each other with practiced ease, Flynn gets startled when, instead of tucking his face against Flynn's neck as he usually does, Yuri leans in close enough to cause Flynn to push into the mattress reflexively. "What?"

"When did you last spend any time in the sun? I can see your freckles again." He chuckles. "Forgot you had 'em, actually."

"Your memory must be going," Flynn quips dryly, "because you said the exact same thing last week."

"Can't help it if I'm not used to you being so pale." Yuri laces their fingers together, holding their joined hands up where Flynn can easily see. "You're almost as pale as me now."

He's not, really, but there's no denying Flynn is not nearly as tanned as he used to be. He lets their hands drop and Yuri slides around a bit so he can prop his head up on Flynn's chest. Flynn doesn't bother attempting to crane his neck to look at him, he knows that angle is too awkward on a good day.

"So how was your first twenty four hours as a free man?" Yuri asks.

Flynn's mouth and brow creases as he bluntly says, "Boring."

Yuri doesn't try very hard to hide the fact that he's laughing. "I know how that is. Haven't figured out what you're going to do with yourself yet?"

Flynn sighs. "When I first started the retirement process, I thought I had plenty of time to do so."

"But you didn't," Yuri states, apparently unsurprised.

"No."

He snorts, then stretches back out next to Flynn. "Good luck with that."

Flynn lifts a hand up just to drop it knuckles down on Yuri's back. "You could offer suggestions."

"I have a hard enough time keeping myself busy, thanks." But he hums and tilts his head to look at Flynn thoughtfully. "Is there anything you've wanted to do but never had the time?"

He looks up at the ceiling, dwelling on the question and coming up blank. Yuri snorts again but doesn't turn away. After a long moment, Flynn asks, "Should we get married?"

"Oh, it only took you thirty years to ask," Yuri teases.

"Only because I got tired of waiting for you to."

"Couldn't. Made a bet with Judy 'bout who'd crack and ask first."

Flynn turns to give Yuri a mild glare. "You did not."

"Didn't I?"

Honestly it's absurd enough to go either way. "In that case you owe me half of whatever you won."

"Yeah, yeah." Yuri scoots over to rest his head on Flynn's chest, fingers scratching through his beard. "Yes, by the way."

"Hm?"

"To getting married. Your memory must be going, old man."

Flynn rolls them over, pressing Yuri into the bed. "I'll show you how old I am."

"Good idea. I better sample the goods before committing."

Flynn sighs. "I can't believe I'm marrying you."

"Me, either," Yuri quips but, as they kiss, Flynn can taste the words _and I can't wait_ on his lips.


End file.
